De Marquis de Bouillé, of De herövering van St. Eustatius, heldenspel: [AND 8 OTHERS]

EACH OF THESE NINE VOLUMES PRESENTED BY NATHANIEL BOWDITCH TO HIS SON

BOWDITCH, Nathaniel, inscribed by]. KASTELEIJN, Petrus Johannes (1746-1794), Author and Translator. A collection of 9 volumes, uniformly bound, of plays by Kasteleijn, or translated by him, all published in Amsterdam. Comprised of originaL sheets, some with added general titles & contents leaves. Uniformly bound in contemporary 1/2 calf, marbled boards (wear to spines & corners), 1 cover detached, but present, half of the lettering pieces for author and title missing, internally fine. Amsterdam: 1779-1789.

1. De Marquis de Bouillé, of De herövering van St. Eustatius, heldenspel (hero's game), by Kasteleijn. 1782 [issued as part of author's Tooneelwerken [Theatre works], 1782. Signed by Kasteleijn against piracy. STC Netherlands locates 6 copies, all in the Netherlands, as are all the titles that follow. 2. Dormont en Julia, of De beloonde huwlijksliefde. Toonelspel [melodrama], 1779. First Edition of an adaptation of a 1777 work; translated from the German. STCN locates 5 copies. 3. De Graaf van Olsbach [melodrama]. 1778. Signed by Kasteleijn against piracy. [By Johann Christian Brandes, German actor and playwright; Translated by P. J. Kasteleijn]. Issued separately and as part of the author/translator/s Tooneelwerken [theatre works], 1781. STCN locates 8 copies. 4. Moliere, blijspel [comedy], 1781. First Edition. Adaptation of Louis-Sébastien Mercier's, Molière, drame. STCN locates 7 copies. 5. De Jufferlijke Kamerdienaar, blijspel [comedy], 1783. [By Christian Fredrich Ferdinand Anselm von Bonin; Translated by P. J. Kasteleijn]. STCN locates 2 copies. 6. Elfride, treurspel [tragedy], 1787. [By Friedrich Justin Bertuch, unsuccessful German playwright who turned to translating; Translated by P. J. Kasteleijn]. Signed by Kasteleijn against piracy. STCN locates 2 copies. 7. Geschenk voor tooneel-dichters en tooneel-speelers, bij de opening van den Amteldamschen schouwburg, des jaars 1781, by Kasteleijn.[A gift for poets and singers at the opening of the Amsterdam theatre]. First Edition, 1781. 8. Codrus treurspel [tragedy], 1785. [By Johann Friedrich von Cronegk, a successful play by a German poet; Translated by P. J. Kasteleijn]. Second Edition; first published 1784. STCN locates 2 copies. 9. Olintes, treurspel [tragedy], another successful play by von Cronegk, 1789. Second Edition; first published 1786. STCNlocates 3 copies.

Nine volumes, either written or translated by P. J. Kasteleijn, a North-Dutch pharmacist, chemist, playwright and poet, all printed on thick paper. Kasteleijn, who had lived in Suriname in the 1760's, also wrote about paper-making and fabric dyeing Three volumes signed by the author/translated to guard against piracy. Each volume presented by Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), the great American mathematician, astronomer, and author of the seiminal book, The New American Practical Navigator (1802), to his son, Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, (1805-1861). Each volume inscribed: "Boston March 5th 1824 Nath:l. Bowditch from his Father." With the recipient's bookplate in each volume. The son entered Harvard at thirteen, graduated in 1822, became a lawyer, and lived in Boston. In 1839 he wrote a memoir of his father, which was published in the same volume with a translation of Laplace's Mecanique Celeste. Bowditch senior is credited with being the founder of modern maritime navigation, with his book still carried on board every commissioned U. S. naval vessel.

De Marquis de Bouillé, of de herovering van St. Eustatius, heldenspel (1782) is an historical work of special interest as it relates to the American Revolution and the recapture of the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius by the French governor of the Antilles, François Claude Amour, marqis de Bouillé, November 1781. There is also a verse elegy of Jan Jacob Hartsinck, author of the well known book, Beschrijving van Guiana (Amsterday, 1770). Very good copies, internally fine. There is a long biograpy of Kasteleijn in P. G. Witsen Geysbeek, Biographisch anthologisch en critisch Woordenboek der Nederduitshce Dichters (Amsterdam, 1821-1827), and other, more modern notices jup to 1985, including, New Dutch Biographical Dictionary, part 4 (1918).